The meeting entitled "NUCLEIC ACID ENZYMES: STRUCTURES, MECHANISMS AND NOVEL APPLICATIONS" will focus on the structure, mechanisms, biological roles, and medical relevance of enzymes that act on DNA and RNA. The meeting will attract a broad cross-disciplinary group of scientists with expertise in structural biology, biochemistry, cell biology. This meeting will be the fifth sponsored by the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB) in the areas of nucleic and enzymologist; the most recent was in 2002. The meeting provides a unique form for the explosion of information on enzymes that act on nucleic acids, the central role of DNA and RNA enzymologist in biotechnology, and the growing list of metabolic disorders and diseased in which nucleic acid enzymes are implicated. By bringing together structural biologists, biochemists, cell biologists and clinicians to discuss common interests, new insights and interdisciplinary collaboration will be fostered. The Scientific Program will consist of eight sessions of oral presentations by distinguished invited speakers in the following subject areas: (1) Transesterification enzymes; (2) Catalysis of phosphoryl transfer by proteins and RNA; (3) Transcription and RNA polymerases; (4) Histone modifications and chromatin remodeling; (5) Enzymology of DNA replication; 6) Single-molecule studies; (7) RNA processing; and (8) Recognition and processing of DNA damage. The organizers have recruited leading investigators to serve as discussion leaders for these sessions. The Program will also include daily poster sessions. All attendees will be encouraged to present posters on their research. To encourage career development of junior scientists, six outstanding posters from the ranks of graduate students and post-doc attendees will be selected for short oral presentations. The FASEB 2004 meeting aims to highlight several emerging themes in nucleic acids Enzymology; the rapidly expanding application of single-molecule methods to study of nucleic acid enzymes, the interplay between chromatin structure and DNA metabolism, the parallels between enzymes involved in DNA metabolism and those of the RNA world, and the burgeoning impact of nucleic acid enzymes on biotechnology and medicine. The intimate format of the conference is designed to promote free exchange of information and ideas among researchers who work on diverse aspects of the RNA and DNA enzymes - thereby expediting research in both fields.